Althalus - nimbly slips around a statue and fires an arrow on Xeron and thanks to the two blesses going on, the shot hits it's target, and drops Xeron.

Syvgar - sees Xeron has fallen, he drops his short sword and backs up to the wall, raising his hands in surrender.

Jeroog (out of order, I know) Takes a quick glance at the body of Xeron and the reaction of Syvgar. The hobgoblin drops his greataxe and bull rushes Leera. She manages to dive to the ground and Jeroog bolts upstairs, fleeing for his life.

Kelser - drops out of Barbarian Rage, but remains in the "yellow"

Battle over!!!!

As you take a look around to see if everything is all right, you catch movement out of the corner of your eyes. All four of the statues stare at you. The statue of the king looks up, and a translucent apparition steps forward. he speaks in a strong but somehow distant voice, smiling warmly.

"Thank you, my friends. It is good to see that heroism remains in this world. My time to return is not now, but it might be soon."

"I am delighted to hear that, for that is what inspired me in my time. My name is Theron, but that is no matter, for my time is past. The name you need to know is Holt Burukhan. I heard that scoundrel" - the king gestures toward the body of Xeron - "refer to something called Dreadlord Holt Burukhan, and while I do not know who or what that is I know that it is evil. It must not triumph!"

"Well, crap, none of us use long swords.... If it comes to mere ownership, I would say Kreg or myself, unless others have issues with that. Many monks have been known to wield similar blades, I would be willing to learn. It would also seem other responsibilities might be connected to the blade."

DM Note - of course, the ownership of this sword must go to a PC. It is actually a Weapon of Legacy, which means it will level up like a character would, and reveal new powers. I would encourage you all to do some research on this weapon when you return to the stronghold (I don't know if you remember the place, it's been such a long time).

Also Lou brings up a good idea. Don't let your class dictate whether or not you can take Merthuvial. Heck, even sorcerers and wizards and weild long sword (thanks 3rd edtion!).

I almost want to say that the weilder of Merthuvial should be the permanent President of Rock Hammer Hold, but I don't think that would be mandatory. One might look at the poltical structure of Rock Hammer Hold like England. The King is the King in name (weilder of Merthuvial) but the political decisions are dictated by the Prime Minister (president of Merthuvial).

"Very well, let us search these bodies, restore what we can of the tomb, retrieve the body of Vadania, talk to the people of Wageton, and head home." The monk solemnly begins to look over the body of Xeron, looking for treasure or further clues to his evil or connection to the Dreadlord. He looks across his companions faces, and stops on the half-orc. "I think we need to talk."

First of all, big congrats to finishing this adventure! We started this back in late June. This was before I was married, but Lou moved to apartment #2 in Chicago, and back when Wil had tonsils! Wow!

On the bodies around the room you'll find the masterwork greataxe that Jeroog dropped.

On Xeron you'll find:

+1 Spear

Wand of Magic Missiles (3rd level, 13 charges)

Ring of Protection +1

Map of the tomb complex

The four broken sarcophagi contain the skeltal remains of the four statues depicted in this room. You do your best to restore them to their proper states.

I went through the three days of adventuring and totaled what you earned. Money wise you came up with 1,364 gp in the tombs, and another 200 gp each (total of 600 gp) as a reward from Mayor Cato June. So that is a total of 1,964 gp to divy up. You will earn XP for the 1,964 but you'll need to decide what shares the NPCs get, what amount goes to the keep, and how much the rest of you split.

Here is a list of magical items you found in the tombs. Some of it has been claimed already, but I don't think all of it had been. Anyways, here it is:

+1 studded leather

Ephod of Authority (Kregnok)

Bracers of Armor +1 (Umberto)

+1 Rapier

Quiver of Ehlonna (Althalus)

+1 Flail

Wand of Magic Missile #1 (Tatyl)

Amulet of Natural Armor (Umberto)

+1 Composite Bow (+3 STR)

Heward's Handy Haversack (Umberto)

Phylactery of Faithfulness (Kregnok)

+1 Spear

Wand of Magic Missiles #2 (3rd level, 13 charges)

Ring of Protection +1

Map of the tomb complex

Like I said, some of this stuff may have already been claimed. So if you have something on this list, chime in and let us all know you already have it.

Now, let' discuss Merthuvial. I have some more details about it.

The typical wielder of Merthuvial is a good-aligned character who has some fighting skill. It is most useful to a character interested in developing leadership and Charisma-based skills.

Also (I know, this is a long post), but wit and courage have served thee well for thou has been promoted to the next level!!!! Welcome to 4th level characters! Don't forget to update your character sheet in this forum and let me know what changes to your character sheet (+1 ability point).

Couple of other things to think about. What to do with Leera? Are we going to have a conversation with Syvgar now?

Loot: I believe I had the phylactery as well, and I know there were some other masterwork items we had discussed bringing along to fill our coffers with at home.

Kregnok will gladly allow Umberto the sword.

Leera is certainly welcome to join us, and we should speak with Syvgar before we depart.

Regarding the coin, Kregnok will suggest an even split, with an additional share for the keep, and an additional share to split between Vadania and Leera (I understand Vadania's deceased, but the offer remains, since she was involved with this quest.)

Yes, we can figure that out when we return home. Kregnok will also follow the monk's path and return his portion of the Wageton dividend to Cato, upon returning topside, which will be after our conversation with Syvgar, as I can feel the DM attempting to reign us back in to the here and now.

The conversation with Syvgar should happen before we leave, if we need him to, or if he desires to continue the spying, we need to make it look like he is our prisoner, in my opinion. We should hear what he has to say.

GuestGuest

Subject: Re: Underground - Eleasis 2nd Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:54 pm

Syvgar takes a long look at the body of Xeron and shakes his head, "That....thing was crazy!"

Syvgar exhales and slides down the wall to sit on the floor, he seems exhausted, mentally and physically. A smirk appears on his face, "Man, I'm glad to see you guys."

Syvgar zones out for a moment then remembers your question. "I met the Dreadlord at the strange rock formation I saw in my dream the night before. I felt…paralyzed when I saw him. He was dressed in his black armor, an icy cold wind picked up and dark clouds gathered overhead. Thunder rumbles in the skies and the smell of ozone abounds…”

(Althalus would know that there were no storms that morning he dropped Syvgar off near the meeting point)

“… and then I found myself on an altar, surrounded by others of the Order of Bane. The Dreadlord stood over me with a look of disdain on his face. I feared he knew my secret. He held a jeweled dagger above me and spoke words I could not understand. He slashed open my belly and pulled my innards out. I screamed out in pain as I…died.”

“I woke later to the sounds of him,” he points to Xeron, “shouting. I reached down to feel the wounds by found no evidence of it, although I was very sore.”

“I looked up and saw Xeron arguing with Krootad about payment. We were in some underground ruins. Krootad wanted more money for turning his back against his own god to serve the Dreadlord and Bane. Xeron said something to the hobgoblin cleric and then Krootad’s head hit his chest. I don’t know what that…thing said to him but he immediately knew his place. Fear came over me, how powerful must the Dreadlord be to have such influence over others.”

“Before I knew it we were on the move. It was nighttime and we descended down the hills of the mountains towards Wageton. We were a formidable group. Xeron, myself, the halfling, a pet choker, his runehound, a human named Teryl, and her” he points at Leera.

“Krootad’s gang consisted of two wolf skeletons, an ogre zombie, a few hobgoblin fighters, Garjuk the wererat, a goblin rogue, and several varags. Although I was never told directly, I later learned that we were on a mission to recover something very valuable for the Dreadlord in an ancient tomb.”

“Xeron was under very strict orders not to disturb the locals as the Dreadlord didn’t want to attract attention. We spent two days at the statue in the woods digging a hole, that according to the map Xeron had, would lead to the underground tomb. When we entered, we started our venture towards the graveyard in Wageton. Xeron lost control when the varags started looting the vaults for whatever treasure they could find. Krootad and his followers stumbled upon the mourners and quickly killed them, and then turned them into zombies. Xeron was furious. He knew it was just a matter of time before the locals would knew what happened. Xeron told Krootad to set up ‘discouragement’ for those who might investigate and even locked the little girl in a vault to further delay any possible pursuers.”

“Xeron turned our attention back to the mission, promising richer loot elsewhere. As we delved deeper into the complex, our progress slowed considerably. Magic and traps protected chambers deeper in the tomb. As a result, we suffered injuries and had to stop to recuperate several times.”

“The relationship between Xeron and Krootad became more strained. I sometimes think it has something to do with the fact that we were no longer in proximity to the Dreadlord that made the cleric…bolder. Eventually Krootad split and took with him his undead while Xeron pushed the rest of us deeper into the tombs.”

“When we arrived here in this room Xeron became very frustrated, partly because you guys were breathing down his neck, and partly because he couldn’t find that” Syvgar points to Merthuvial. Panicked, Xeron had us start to break our way into that secret tunnel” Syvgar points to the small hole, “Apparently the Dreadlord gave Xeron explicit instructions not to use it. Then again, he told him that failure was not an option. When the hole was big enough, Xeron sent the halfling and the goblin into it with a good deal of loot. When you arrived, we were working on widening it.”

(DM Note: don’t worry about the halfling and goblin and chasing them down. This dungeon crawl adventure is at its end)